Peter Jackson starts shooting for The Hobbit

After facing many setbacks, director Peter Jackson has finally started the shooting for his upcoming movie The Hobbit in New Zealand on Monday. It is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie was delayed for long time over actors boycott, studio funding problems and director's stomach ulcer.

Peter Jackson's crew have just begun principle photography on the The Hobbit. The director has posted a couple of photos on his new Facebook page after completing the first day of the shooting at Stone Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand. Jackson looks fairly serene in photos. The mood is really great. "We are very excited to be starting production," Jackson's assistant Matt Dravitzki said in a statement.

However, the two-film, $500 million fantasy adventure, The Hobbit, promises a companion epic to Jackson"s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which merely pulled in $2.9 billion in worldwide box office. The first movie is due in theaters in December 2012, while the second installment will released in the following year.